This morning The Inquisitrreported on a group of Australian fishermen who were approached by a whale that nudged their boat and continued to move it's head in and out of the water as a plea for help. The whale turned out to have fishing line and two plastic bags stuck on it's head. Once relieved it gratefully swam away. Not all whales are lucky enough to have the good fortune of evading death by plastic. In 2010 a whale was found dead with 20 plastic bags in its stomach amidst other trash (read more here), and in 2013 there were two separate cases of whales that washed up dead with stomachs full of plastic including plastic bags (read more here).

Of the billions of bags used and discarded every year, this is an prime example of how it takes only one or two to harm wildlife. Plastic bags are not the only culprit, and whales are not the only victims. Sea turtles mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, zooplankton and fish are ingesting microplastics, and The Inquisitr has previously reported that 90% of seabirds found dead on the beach have ingested plastic as well. Plastic bags rarely get recycled and are light enough to be blown from land sources out to sea.

The best way to tackle this problem is to stop the pollution at it's source. Last year with the help of CAW, a bill banning the use of single-use plastic bags in California was signed into law but was immediately halted by out-of-state plastic bag industry. They spent millions of dollars financing a referendum, so now implementation of the ban has been delayed until November 2016 when voters will decide whether to uphold it. With your yes vote you can save the whales!